Armani Rogers says the UNLV Rebels are going bowling in 2018.

Rarely has the UNLV Rebels football program entered a season with such high expectations.

This is the fourth year of the Tony Sanchez era in Las Vegas, and the second with dynamic dual-threat quarterback Armani Rogers under center. For many Rebels fans that means a return to postseason play for the first time since 2014. And that’s fine with Rogers.

In each season under Sanchez the Rebels have improved, if only modestly. Many thought the path was present in 2017 for UNLV to become bowl eligible, but that dream fell flat in the season finale against arch-rival Nevada, and the Rebels finished the campaign with five wins on its ledger.

Rogers was nothing short of spectacular, though. He set a school record for rushing yards by a freshman en route to winning the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year Award. Last week at UNLV training camp Rogers didn’t shy away from making a prediction on the Rebels upcoming season.

One day in Sanchez likes what he sees. And he was clear that UNLV will plan its offensive attack around its multi-talented signal caller.

“He looks good,” Sanchez said. “It really comes down to decision-making. I think that with the style of offense we’re playing now, how we’ve kind of geared it toward him, I think it’s going to help him be a more efficient passer.”

Efficiency as a passer is a concern, but the weapons that Rogers has at his disposal is not. A talented receiving corps along with arguably the conference’s top running back in Lexington Thomas means the tools are there for the Rebels to fulfill Rogers’ prediction. He’s worked on changing some of his passing his mechanics for the start of 2018.

“Just some little, different fundamental things,” Rogers said of his tweaked technique. “And recognizing defense slows the game down tremendously, so it helps me out a lot.”

The UNLV Rebels kick off the 2018 college football season September 1st with a road date against the USC Trojans in Los Angeles.